SCAMpaign: Why Would a ‘Billionaire’ Candidate Pay Himself a Salary from Campaign Money?

One of the more troubling aspects of the newly released FEC report on the Donald Trump presidential campaign, in addition to the fact that it’s nearly flat broke, and that his surrogates are making up the most ridiculous excuses for his inability to raise money, is the following question.

Why would a “rich billionaire” need to pay himself — the presidential candidate — what appears to be a regular paycheck?

Among some of the more ethically questioned expenditures from the Trump campaign, in addition to paying his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida a whopping $423,371.70 for the month of May, for “facility rental/catering” fees, as well as paying his private air fleet, Tag Air, Inc., $349,540, is thousands of dollars from the campaign marked “PAYROLL” payable to: Donald J. Trump.

While Trump paying himself, as well as enriching his family via his campaign, may be technically legal, it reeks of questionable ethics.

Further analysis from the recent FEC filing shows payments to Trump entities represented a full 20 percent, one-fifth, of all campaign expenditures.

Why would Donald Trump “loan” his campaign money (he’s actually self-funded very little of his campaign with pure donations), only to pay it right back out to himself, his companies, and his family?

In the financial world, I believe there is a technical term for this practice — “churning.”

About the Author

A former Washington State U.S. Congressional candidate in 2010, Matthew attended the nation’s first modern day Tea Party in 2009 in Seattle, Washington. He also began writing and blogging that year.
Matthew became a Certified Financial Planner in 1995 and was a Financial Advisor for 24 years in his previous life.
Matthew was one of the three main writers leading a conservative news site to be one of the top 15 conservative news sites in the U.S. in a matter of months. He brings to PolitiStick a vast amount of knowledge about economics as well as a passion and commitment to the vision that our Founding Fathers had for our Republic.